Tubing packer



G. BOER TUBING PACKER Filed May 17. 1954 May 13, 1958 Flaz INVENTOR. lGeorge Boer BY A ro EY .Mii

United 'States Patent() TUBING PACKER George Boer, Houston, Tex.,assignor, by mesne assignments, to Esso Research and EngineeringCompany, Elizabeth, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application May 17,1954, Serial No. 430,207 3 Claims. (Cl. 166-139) The present inventionis directed to a packer adapted to be connected into a tubing string.More particularly, the invention is directed to a tubing packer which iseasily releasable from engagement with the walls of a casing. In itsmore specific aspects, the invention is directed to a tubing packerincorporating a novel packing member.

The present invention may be briefly described as a packer adapted to beconnected into a tubing string which comprises, in combination, a fullopening tubular mandrel. A packer sleeve assembly is embraceably mountedon said packer mandrel and is connected thereto by frangible means whichmay be released. The packer sleeve is provided with a plurality of pipeslips arranged in a slip cage assembly carried on the rst end of thepacker sleeve. The packer sleeve also is provided with a plurality offriction springs carried on the rst end of the packer sleeve adjacentthe pipe slips for holding the packer sleeve against rotation withrespect to the packer mandrel.

The packer is provided with releasable means which comprises at leastone L-slot in the slip cage assembly and at least one lug on the packersleeve slidable in the L-slot for setting the pipe slips for engagingwith a wall of a casing. The packer is provided with a helical,reinforced deformable packer member arranged on and connected to thesecond end of the packer mandrel and to the lsecond end of the packersleeve for providing a seal in the annulus between the tubing and thecasing on downward movement of the second end of the packing member withrespect to the packer sleeve. Downward movement of the packer mandrelcompresses the packing member into sealing engagement with the wall ofthe casing. The second end of the packer mandrel is provided withthreaded means engageable with the second end of the packer sleeve forrotational movement of the packer mandrel for compacting the packermandrel to allow uniform wrapping of the packing member on the packermandrel.

The packer of the present invention may be set and released while usingrelatively slight force thus permitting a majority of force available tobe applied to dislodge sand, drilling mud and the like material whichmay resist dislodgment of the packer. Therefore, the present inventionhas considerable utility in oil producing operations and the like.

The invention will be further illustrated by reference to the drawing inwhich Fig. l is a partial sectional View of the upper portion of thedevice of the present invention arranged in a well casing andincorporated into a tubing string;

Fig. l-A is a sectional view of the lower portion of the device shown inFig. l;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 2--2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

iidligllii Fig. 4 is a view showing the packing member in seal ingengagement with the wall of the casing.

Referring now to the drawing in which identical numerals will beemployed to designate identical parts, numeral 11 designates a wellcasing arranged in a well bore drilled in the earth. A tubing string 12is run into the well and has made up into it a packer mandrel 13connected at its upper end to the tubing 12 by packer head 14. Embracingthe packing mandrel 13, which is a full opening tubular member providinga passageway 15 therethrough, is a packer sleeve assembly 16 to theupper end of which is connected and forms part of the sleeve assembly 16is a threaded compacting means 17' which is provided with threadedtypegrooves 18. It is to be noted that an intermediate portion of the packermandrel 13 is provided with projections 19 for engagement with thethreaded grooves 13 and for contact with internal shoulder 5t? of means17.

A slip cage assembly 20 is provided with L-slots 21 in which arearranged lugs 22 carried by the packer sleeve 16. The slip cage assembly2li `is provided with a plurality of friction springs 23 which areattached to spring sleeves 24 and 2S which are adapted to snap intorecesses 26 and 27 of the slip cage assembly 20. The friction springs 23are adapted to engage with the Wall of casing 11, as shown. The slipcage assembly Ztl is also provided with a plurality of pipe -slips 28which are adapted to be urged into operative position by steps 29 on thepacker sleeve 16. The slips 28 are normally held in inoperative positionby band springs 30 and 31 which embrace the slips circumferentially andare arranged in the recesses 32 and 33 of the slips 28.

The packer -sleeve 16 is releasably connected to the packer mandrel 13by frangible means, such as shear pins 34, adjacent the lower end of thepacker mandrel. The shear pins 34 are arranged in a coupling 35 whichthreadedly connects the lower end of tubing 12 with the packer mandrel13. Connected to the packer head 14 is ahelical, reinforced deformablepacking member 40 which is spiraled on the packer mandrel 13. Thedeformable packing member 40 is connected also to the compacting means17, as shown in the drawing.

It is to be noted that the projections 19 are arranged on a collar 41which is threadedly connected into and forms part of the packer mandrel13.

The operation of the apparatus of the present invention is as follows:

The device as shown in the drawing is made up into a tubing string, suchas 12, and is lowered to the desired setting depth in a well casing,such as 11. The friction springs 23 are in contact with the well casingand prevent rotation of the slip cage assembly 20 to allow furthermovement downward of the tubing 12 and the other elements of the packerrelative to the slip cage assembly 20. This downward movement takesplace by rotating the packer sleeve 16 to the left (as shown) to causethe lug 22 to enter the vertical portion of the L-slot as indicated.Downward movement of the tubing 12 causes the steps 29 of the packersleeve 16 to seat the slips 2S and engage with the wall of the wellcasing. The slip seating is accomplished with a force limited only bythe shear strength of the shear pins 34 which holds the packer sleeve 16against the packer mandrel 13, as shown. After the slips have been set,tubing weight of a predetermined amount is set down on the tubing 12 toshear the pins 34 which allows continued relative movement of the packermandrel with respect to the slips28 and the slip cage yassembly 20. Thetubing is moved downward; while rotation to tighten the deformablepacker member 40 is accomplished either at the wellhead or by allowingthe weight of the pipe to cause rotation as the threaded projections 19traverse the threaded grooves i 1S in the compacting means 17. Movementdownward of the tubing 12 and packer mandrel 13 with respect t0 theelement 17 causes the deformable packer member 40, which has beentightened rotationally as described, to be compressed vertically andexpanded horizontally into sealing engagement with the wall of thecasing 11.

The projections 19 and the grooves 18 cause rotation and uniformwrapping of the deformable packing member 40 on the packer mandrel 13 toachieve a compacting seal with the casing 11. This operation isillustrated in Fig. 4.

When it is desired to remove the packer from the casing or well bore atension or strain is taken on the tubing 12 which lifts the packer head14 from its compressing position on top of the helical or spiral packingmember 40 which, by the same movement, is being unspiraled by rotationalmovement of the projections 19 upward through the threaded-type grooves18 of the packer compacting element 17.

It will be thus seen that surface Contact friction is relativelyminimized in the present invention since the surface of the packer whichforms a seal is effectively altered in the sealing operation.

Further movement upward of the tubing 12 and mandrel 13 allows contactbetween the threaded projection 19 and the internal shoulder 5t? of themember or compacting means 17. This relative movement unseats the slipsteps 29 which are retracted into inoperative position by the bandsprings 30 and 31. The packer is thus freed from engagement with thewall of casing 11 and the lugs 22 then move upward as far as possible inthe slip cage 20 and the device may be rotated to the left orcounterclockwise (optional direction). The device is then in position tobe pulled from the casing.

The packer member 40 employed in the present invention may suitably beconstructed of natural or synthetic rubber or synthetic elastomerswell-known to the art. It is desirable to reinforce the packing member40, such as by internal reinforcing means, such as fiber cords, metallicmembers and the like.

While the releasing assembly for the slips has been illustrated by anL-slot and a lug, other releasing assemblies, such as J-slots and pinsand the like, may be used.

The nature and objects of the present invention having been completelydescribed and illustrated, what I wish to claim as new and useful and tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A packer adapted to be connected into a tubing string whichcomprises, in combination, a full opening tubular packer mandrel, apacker sleeve assembly embraceably surrounding the lower end of saidpacker mandrel, frangible meana` releasably connecting said packermandrel to said packer sleeve, a slip cage assembly carried on the lowerend of said packer sleeve, a plurality of pipe slips arranged in saidslip cage assembly, said packer sleeve having stepped surfaces inoperative contact with corresponding stepped surfaces of said pipeslips,-a plurality of friction springs carried on said slip cageassembly holding said packer sleeve against rotation with respect tosaid packer mandrel, releasable means interconnecting said packer sleeveand s-aid slip cage assembly for relative movement for setting said pipeslips by moving the stepped surfaces on the pipe slips and the packersleeve relative to each other and thereby engaging the pipe slips withthe wall of a casing on downward movement of the packer mandrel, asingle, continuous, helical, reinforced, deformable solid rubber packingmember spirally arranged on and connected by its upper end to saidpacker mandrel for vertical movement with said packer mandrel and by itslower end to said packer sleeve for rotational movement with respect toits upper end for providing a seal in the annulus between the tubing anda casing on downward movement of the upper end of said packing memberwith respect to said packer sleeve to compress said packing member intosealing engagement with the wall of said casing, and projection means onthe intermediate portion of said packer mandrel threadedly engaging witha groove formed on the inner surface of said packer sleeve forrotational movement of said packer mandrel and providing rotationalmovement of said packing member on shearing said frangible means bycontinued downward movement of the packer mandrel whereby uniformwrapping of said packing member on `said packer mandrel is obtained. Y

2. A packer in accordance with claim l in which the releasable meanscomprises at least one L-slot in said slip cage assembly and at leastone lug on said packer sleeve slidable in said L-slot.

3. A packer in accordance with claim l in which the pipe slips -arecircumferentially embraced by biasing means for retracting said pipeslips into operative position.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain 1902

